Many culinary processes involve the heating or cooking of foodstuffs during preparation. Cooking processes such as frying, grilling, and the like are integral to the correct preparation of many dishes. Due to the temperatures involved in such processes, many different utensils including tongs, spatulas, and spoons are used to avoid direct contact between the user's skin and the high temperature foods and cooking surfaces.
One (1) problem often encountered while cooking such dishes is that of incidental contact with high temperature substances. Many processes involve large amounts of heated liquids such as grease to facilitate cooking. Painful injuries are often sustained when these liquids splatter, bubble, or splash, thereby burning the user.
Various attempts have been made to provide means for handling cooking utensils and other items. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,495, issued in the name of Crownover, describes a glove device with integral tool elements which are attached to the glove with a bar grip.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,417, issued in the name of Stagnitta, describes a food handling glove. The Stagnitta device provides a glove which may be utilized to directly grip foodstuffs during preparation, providing features of enhanced traction and thermal insulation.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffer from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Many such devices are not usable with a wide range of existing utensils. Also, many such devices do not adequately protect a user from grease splatters and the like. Accordingly, there exists a need for a cooking utensil gripping glove without the disadvantages as described above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.